Time passed quietly, and in the continuous war reports from the north, all the population of Mengjia Yuzhai moved into Dongshan Island. Although most people are confused, fortunately, Dongshan Island has hundreds of acres of mountain fields, which is enough to consume most people's energy.

The house buildings that settled down were not enough, Zhao Tianyou learned to be obedient at this time, and did not ask for everyone's opinions in a meeting, but directly explained a little to a few stewards. All the temporary shelters were set up, and it was clear to everyone that this was not a place to live for a long time, but a temporary place to escape from disasters.

Because a large number of clippers have been seized, the young and strong manpower of the Mengjia fishing village is no longer enough. Some of the middle-aged and elderly people who were engaged in fishing gave up fishing and were assigned to serve as sailors on various clippers, plus some pirates and sailors who volunteered to stay, barely able to support the combat strength of eight clippers.

The original fishing boats were handed over to the women, and they fished and fished for shrimp in the waters near the island to supplement the island's food and drink, but the main supply resources were still purchased from Quanzhou. The barter transaction with the Jiang family to transfer the wharf has been completed, except for a shipload of fine iron, which is mainly supplemented with grain and daily necessities.

The raw materials used to make gunpowder are very sensitive, and the principle of sub-regional, individual variety, and decentralized procurement has been adopted for procurement. However, now the purchase volume is getting larger and larger, and new suppliers are constantly emerging, with different price points and higher purity products.

Especially for the purchase of nitrate, through Mu Chenglin, he contacted a merchant in Weinan, who has been purifying saltpeter for many years, with good quality and high purity, and is still the main supplier of the imperial court ordnance supervision. Because the world is a little worried now, there is a backlog of a large number of high-purity finished products in his hands, and he is eager to exchange them for cash silver to travel far away to avoid trouble, which is exactly what Zhao Tianyou's mind is.

A whole boatload of high-purity nitrate, Zhao Tianyou couldn't close his mouth. The source of sulfur is easy to buy in Quanzhou Port, and there is even volcanic sulfur imported by Dongying merchant ships, which is much cheaper for the same purity and quality. In this way, the gunpowder workshop on the island was relocated, and the output and quality of grinding and blending gunpowder were raised to a higher level, and it would soon reach the high-quality standards in Zhao Tianyou's heart.

The increase in quality and quantity also meant that the consumption rate of gold and silver was out of control, and it was not at all the original plan to be able to sustain a stable life for two years, and if the money continued to be spent at this rate, it is estimated that half a year will not even wait for the first crop of rice to mature in the fields, and the people on the island will go hungry.

The elders of the Meng family, who were in charge of financial revenue and expenditure, were anxious, and they were embarrassed to tell Zhao Tianyouming, so they went to Mencius to discuss it privately.

"How many more months? What about so much gold and silver, and what about the grain that was exchanged for Quanzhou? ”

"The gold has basically been spent, and there are still a few thousand taels of silver left, and it is because of the large amount of grain from Quanzhou that we can hold out for a few months. If we save a little, we can wait until our rice is ripe. ”

At once, the fishermen became farmers who planted rice fields, and they also took a few detours in the middle, which was not easy to plant, and the first batch of rice grew well. In the past few months, I have given up the fishery trade, as well as the income from the original wharf trade, and the entire fishing village is eating and drinking the old money, plus adding so many new procurement projects, it is very good to be able to persist until now.

"I know about this matter, Zhao Jiaotou is far-sighted, it must have been arranged early, you just need to do a good job of accounting with peace of mind!" Mencius Yan has been in poor health recently, perhaps because he has not adapted to the soil and water after moving, and he himself has always been worried that the end is approaching.

Dongshan Island and the main island are only more than 30 miles apart, standing on the top of Dongshan Island and looking west, the steep cliffs of the main island are vividly visible. On a clear day, you can even see rows of clippers moored on the shoal pier.

It's been more than two months since I moved here, and life is gradually getting on the right track, the intensity of the training of the soldiers is getting higher and higher, and a lot of manpower has been added to several workshops, and the things made are getting better and better.

All this is to prepare for the war, and there were some rumors in private at that time that such intense training and preparation were all for the purpose of burning the Black Tiger flagship as soon as possible, attacking the main island and cutting off the head of the guy surnamed Xiao.

Meng Ziyan was the most anxious person, but after getting along with Zhao Tianyou for a long time, he also understood that it was impossible to rashly attack the main island for the hatred in his heart, without any chance of winning, and use the lives of these Meng family children to test the strength of the other party.

After two actual battles with zero casualties, Zhao Tianyou's prestige is in full swing, but he knows in his heart that this is all a matter of luck and risk, and the next target must be carefully planned and treated carefully. Behind the steep cliff not far away, the Black Tiger Flagship, which has been famous for a long time, has changed several owners, and there are countless battles large and small, but it has not tasted defeat for so many years, and its strength can be seen.

Although many weapons of the Age are stored in the mind, they cannot even achieve the best performance of gunpowder, let alone make *******. The imminent war threatens everyone, how long can he hide from moving to Dongshan Island, Zhao Tianyou only has an approximate time in his mind. Although the team in his hand has improved a little, he may not be able to withstand a wave in the face of the charge of the Mongolian iron cavalry, which is also the main reason why Zhao Tianyou is in a hurry to leave the land and transfer the personnel and battlefield to the sea.

Gunpowder arrows can control sea contact at a certain distance, and stone cannons and iron crossbows used on large warships have already placed orders with Mu Chenglin. However, there are no such big warships to use on Dongshan Island, and Han Liu's flagship ship has burned down in front of the Mengjia Yuzhai wharf, so Zhao Tianyou's is already thinking about other people's fleets.

Through the dozens of pirates who stayed to join the Mengjiazhai soldiers, it was understood that the combat power of Li Zhong's troops on Xishan Island was weaker than that of Dongshan Island, but they had two snatched large food merchant ships in their hands, and the draft tonnage was greater than that of the Black Tiger flagship on the main island. Hearing the existence of these two boats, Zhao Tianyou's appetite was immediately aroused, and he pondered how to get them every day, to the point of being hungry and thirsty.

Zhao Tianyou wanted to build two sea warships, which could not only quickly transfer the population from afar, but also have powerful military equipment, and have the ability to break through the encirclement or even defeat in the face of pirates or sailors. Even if the Meng family fishing village has silver, it is impossible to go to the shipyard to customize the battleship, and besides, it is a business under the control of Pu Shougeng, and he will definitely not accept his unclear order.

When I dozed off, someone sent a pillow, and the two big food merchant ships on Xishan Island were remembered by Zhao Tianyou, but it was a little inappropriate to rob them clearly, and it was easy to be robbed by pirates on the main island. After all, after the expansion of the Mengjia fishing village, there are only four or five hundred people and horses, and more than a dozen fast boats, which are slightly insufficient to confront Xishan Island head-on.

At this time, Mu Chenglin came to visit from Quanzhou.